1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a method for improving an individual's swing in sports-related activities and to apparatus and methods for effectuating the same. More particularly, the present disclosure is directed to training apparatus and methods having particular applicability to improving a golf swing that incorporate the use of a training apparatus having a sliding weight member mounted to a shaft portion of that apparatus that is adapted and configured to help an individual to increase head speed and/or improve control over ball flight characteristics.
2. Background of Related Art
The literature of golf instruction is replete with advice and observations on the dynamics of a proper swing. It includes theories regarding creating power and how the “clubshaft” or “clubhead” must be swung in relationship to the golfer's body. The specific movements, which the body must make in order to strike a golf ball accurately and for distance, have been examined and written about in detail for years. With the aid of technology developed over the last 40 years, golf professionals and scientists have come into agreement as to what specific body movements contribute to a powerful and accurate swing.
It has been established and proven scientifically that the most accurate way to generate speed and thus power into the clubhead and clubshaft at impact is to utilize “centrifugal force” and to transfer momentum/energy down the clubshaft and out into the clubhead. A model golf swing “loads”, “retains”, and “releases” energy throughout the swing such that the clubhead is accelerating as it approaches the ball and reaches peak velocity in this impact zone.
PGA Teaching Professionals recognize that the average golfer is “spent” prior to impact due to a “pre-mature release” of power. The premature release of power results from a misdirected effort to accelerate the clubhead with his/her hands early in the downswing. More specifically, most novice golfers decrease the wrist-cock angle well prior to reaching the impact zone, which results in significantly less clubhead speed when the clubhead contacts the ball.
Golfers and golf professionals have trained ceaselessly in an effort to “groove” the proper swing so as to produce a ball flight which is long and has the desired flight characteristics (i.e., height, curvature, and spin). Many devices have been created for training golfers to reproduce a proper golf swing. Some of these devices are complicated, misleading and based on unscientific theory and have hurt more golfers then they have helped. Several weighted devices have been developed which are designed to increase clubhead velocity, but these devices inaccurately replicate how power is “loaded”, “retained”, and “released” in a proper golf swing. Still further, these previously proposed weighted devices are either incapable of accurately allowing the golfer to experience true momentum/energy transfer, or do not sufficiently provide the much sought after feedback of a correct motion. Additionally, none of the prior art training devices help the user adjust the striking of the ball so as to create a desired flight. More specifically, none of the prior art weighted devices aid in the reduction/elimination of slicing or hooking nor do they help develop the ability to impart a draw or a fade on the ball flight.
There is a need therefore, for training apparatus and methods in connection with sports-related activities, e.g., golf, baseball and the like, that provide the user with the proper feedback during a practice swing on “retaining” the potential energy and wrist-cock until the correct moment of release. Additionally, there is a need for apparatus and methods that simultaneously provide auditory, visual and sensory feedback as to what specific movements are required to improve ball striking and/or to generate desired ball flight characteristics, such as trajectory, height and curvature.